Stockton company advances in Mexico

Saturday

Aug 24, 2013 at 12:01 AM

American Micro Detection Systems Inc. of Stockton said its water-monitoring technology has won the approval of Mexican clean water officials, and the company has sold an initial six units to that country.

Reed Fujii

American Micro Detection Systems Inc. of Stockton said its water-monitoring technology has won the approval of Mexican clean water officials, and the company has sold an initial six units to that country.

American Micro instruments have been accepted by Conagua, the National Water Commission, an agency of the government's Ministry of the Environment and Natural Resources.

In an email from Mexico City, Chief Executive Robert Keville said he closed a deal Thursday to provide six of its instruments, used to constantly monitor dissolved metals and other contaminants in water.

And that's just the start.

"I expect Mexico to require up to 350 units within the next two years for municipal use and 50 for mining interests," he wrote.

The technology is also attracting attention from the global oil industry for use in tracking water quality associated with fracking and other processes.

American Micro's instruments - called REX, for real-time elemental X-ray fluorescence - can continually monitor flows for the presence of metals and other materials at very low levels with very little maintenance. That offers great advantages over testing regimes that require sampling and lab testing, which can be slow in producing results and may consume additional materials.

Keville said the instruments sell for $150,000 each.

They are manufactured in Wisconsin, with assembly and testing performed by Saber Engineering in Auburn.